Even five minutes of scrolling on Twitter can make one believe that the world is coming to an end.  Well, if not the entire world, then surely one’s country.

If not that, then certainly one’s city, town, or at least their residential area. There are constant tweets about the coming plagues, civil wars, world wars, and social, economic and political meltdowns. All this may seem to be something that is shockingly new. In fact, quite a few folk do believe that the modern world has never been engulfed by so much fear and paranoia as it is today. 

Tweet after tweet tells us that social order is breaking down and that the world is poised to be consumed by all kinds of apocalypses. Yet, outside of Twitter or, for that matter, outside of any social media outlet, life often seems to be rather normal.

By ‘normal’ I do not mean it being tranquil. Normal on a planet holding eight billion human beings means constant political tensions, civil strife, violence, crime, etc. Indeed, many of these may be disturbing and generate a lot of anxiety, but humans live through them by using various emotional, intellectual, spiritual and political coping mechanisms. They always have. 

Doomsday prophecies that are routinely spouted by religious leaders, politicians and ordinary citizens alike are by no means a recent phenomenon. They, and the fundamental thinking which underpins them, have been around for centuries

There is nothing new about the world witnessing frequent surges in collective apocalyptic thinking. Here are some examples mentioned in a 2009 issue of The Smithsonian. An ancient Assyrian clay tablet (dated 2800 BCE) has this inscription on it: “Our Earth is degenerate in these days; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; every man wants to write a book and the end of the world is approaching.” Okay, but what was so apocalyptic about every man wanting to write a book? 

In 1213 CE, Pope Innocent III described the rise of Islamic empires as the rise of the ‘Antichrist’. He argued that if this “diabolical creature” were not defeated, the world would be consumed by sin. According to the alarmist Pope, the defeat of the Antichrist would usher in the second coming of Christ, the Kingdom of God, and all that. 

In the 15th century, an influential Italian monk, Girolamo Savonarola, was certain that an increase in sins and worldly pleasures would trigger an apocalypse. A large group of his followers began to discuss the coming doom, but one in which only they would be spared. Savonarola predicted that “the sword of the Lord will come down upon the earth soon in the form of war, pestilence and famine.” He garnered a lot of attention (and anxiety). Indeed, the Lord’s sword did come down, but upon Savonarola. He was accused of heresy and then executed. 

On the other end, if you think looking for ‘signs of the end of times ‘ is a more recent hobby of Muslims, the fact is, many Muslims have been looking for these signs for centuries. This has been going on since at least the 9th century. It becomes particularly intense and widespread in times of a crisis. Then just about everything starts to look like a ‘sign’.  

In the first few centuries of Islam, numerous messianic movements rose up, preaching that the end of the world was nigh. The followers of these movements were sure that all the ‘signs’ were in place for the end of a corrupt world and the emergence of a new one. However, these movements were often crushed by the authorities for being the work of nut-jobs.

Recently, a Pakistani Twitter account that tweets weather forecasts and updates, tweeted a photo of snowfall in some desert. It tweeted, “One of the signs of the Day of Judgement.” Well, this just has to be the account’s most dramatic weather prediction. Desert, snow, sign, apocalypse. 

Political leaders also excel in ‘predicting’ doom, especially if things do not turn out the way they want them to. On Twitter, fans of the former US president Donald Trump echoed their leader’s dramatic reading of the current situation in the US.

In a series of tweets that I came across, many Trump enthusiasts warned that there was “great anger” in the “real people of America” which could turn into “unstoppable violence” and “utter chaos”, if the former president were arrested, tried and sentenced. Two tweets claimed that only Trump supporters would survive the commotion — obviously.

Something similar is being tweeted over and over again by Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan. He sees anger and rage and fury and wrath in society against the current government and the military establishment and, therefore, all this anger and rage and fury and wrath would culminate in a civil war if he is arrested, tried and sentenced. 

The one constant in all the world-ending talk across the centuries has remained that those warning us, and those following them, will apparently survive and reap the benefits of a cleansed new world that will emerge from the chaos.

Psychologists have a rather interesting take on this. In the late 1940s, the German researcher F. Steiniger conducted an experiment with rats, in which he put 15 rats who had never met each other into a cage. After a bit, some male rats realised that there were female rats there as well. The first rat couple to get together began to monopolise food and space, and then started to hunt down other rats.

In the end, they were the only survivors. According to Steiniger, “The couple had cleared the territory of competitors, transforming the cage into a spacious land of milk and honey for themselves. A new promised land.”

Writing for Psychology Today, the American author Howard Bloom took this example to mean that every end-of-the-world group believes that, after millions of people are killed, only the true believers will be saved. They’ll have a fresh new world, a world purged of all the riff raff. To Bloom, apocalyptic-beliefs are “land-clearance and land-grab dreams.” 

Those who are constantly pointing out that things are about to go south, consciously or unconsciously, actually want them to go south. Somewhere in the back of their heads is the belief that they and only people like them will remain to enjoy the fruits of a brand new dawn.

Now imagine a world that only has Trump and his supporters or Imran Khan trolls in it. Yes, that bad. 

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 23rd, 2023